About Variety Club
Formed in 1949, Variety Club has raised more than £170 million and made a real difference to children's lives throughout the UK:
- £3 million to build and improve the Variety Club Children's Hospital at King's College Hospital in London
- £250,000 to St George's Hospital in Tooting to help open a new intensive care ward
- More than 4,000 Sunshine Coaches
- 3,000 Easy Riders electric wheelchairs
Every Christmas we give over 3,000 toys to children who would otherwise have no present of any kind, and we entertain more than 100,000 youngsters each year at a wide range of exciting venues.
There are never enough resources to answer every appeal, but, thanks to your generous donations, Variety Club has been able to spend the last 50 years helping where help is needed.
How it all works
When the founding fathers of Variety first constituted the charity in the States in the 1920s, they came up with a structure that provided a blueprint for Variety Clubs all over the world.
Based on the language of fairgrounds and carnivals, Variety Club still uses terms that may seem something of a mystery to those who know little about the charity.
For example, the main 'board' of the charity, consisting of trustees and others, is called the Crew, named after those who erected the old circus tents or nowadays provide the various technical experts to make a film or stage a live production. The 'chairman' of the board is called the Chief Barker, the name of the man who drummed up punters at the fairground. Every member of Variety Club is a Barker.
The important thing is that all these people are volunteers who expect absolutely nothing in return for the time, effort and money they put into the charity - not even the costs of postage and phone calls. In fact, quite the reverse, being closely involved with Variety Club can be an expensive business as all past Chief Barkers are only too well aware! But it's worth it - every time you see a smile on the face of a child the charity has helped.
In the UK, the Tent 36 Crew has meetings more or less once a month. Crew meetings decide the major business of Variety Club - to review fundraising and to approve the many appeals for help the charity continually receives. In between Crew meetings there are meetings of the Executive Management Committee, a smaller group of senior Crew members who decide the many smaller matters involved in running a £10 million business.
The volunteers in Crew are supported by many others who work on the Committees that run each aspect of Variety Club, plus a team of professional staff at our London offices where the day-to-day business of running the charity takes place.
Throughout the country Variety Club is represented by regional committees, all raising funds, and holding events for disadvantaged and disabled children in their areas.
Variety Club also has its own Golfing Society where business people, sponsors and celebrities enjoy the game while raising more than £1 million towards the Sunshine Coach programme each year.
Tent 36, as the UK charity is known, is one of more than 50 'tents' throughout the world, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, Barbados and France.
Variety Club calls itself "The Children's Charity" with very good reason.